CharmingDisclaimer: I don't
own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR,
Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Thirty Nine : Beautiful Day

The door downstairs creaked open, then slammed shut, once, twice,
thrice in quick succession. Hermione winced at the noise, shaking her
head as she silently promised herself to have another long talk with
Harry about how to set a good example and not slam the damn door so
as not to give her another damn headache.

"Not if what he bought is a pair of brooms," Hermione muttered
to herself as she put the book she had been reading down upon the
table next to her. She got up and proceeded to make her way down the
stairs of their home to the foyer where those three had come in. She
had initially been ecstatic when Harry had volunteered earlier to
take their children out, so she would have time to catch up on her
reading. Now she wasn't so sure that she should have done so
without setting some ground rules, such as not buying new brooms even
though James had made the Gryffindor Quidditch team last year, and
Eliza was dead set on making it next. Not for the first time,
Hermione wondered why both of their children took after their father
instead of their mother. Wasn't there some unwritten rule out there
that said that if a couple had two children, one should resemble the
father while the other should be more like the mother?

"I should have bloody well had that codified long before getting
pregnant," Hermione muttered to herself before she entered the
foyer. "All right, all right. So what is it that your dad bought .
. . ." Suddenly, she felt something cold and wet touch her leg.
Looking down, she saw big, brown eyes and an enthusiastically wagging
tail.

"A puppy?" Hermione blinked. That was unexpected.

"Yes, Hermione, a puppy. I thought it's about time we got
another pet around here," said Harry.

"Yeah, Mum, it's been ages!" Eliza agreed. "And
Bottle here was the last one at the shop, and he looked so lonely
that we couldn't just leave him all alone!"

"His name is Bottle?" That was another surprise.

"That's what he was called at the pet shop. So if that's
what he's used to, then we shouldn't really change it, should we,
Mum?" replied James.

Hermione, always being a quick thinker, had several thoughts
running through her head at that moment. The first was that she was
going to kill Malfoy for getting Ginny and Blaise's kids that puppy
at the start of summer. She never quite understood why Gin was so
upset, but the thought of muddy paws tramping through the kitchen and
no one else wanting to take the puppy outside when he heard the call
of nature—that was quite upsetting. Her second thought was that she
was going to kill Harry for actually buying the pup. Her third was no
she wasn't because then she'd be locked up, the kids would have
to live with Gin (as Ron's bachelor lifestyle really had no room
for children in it), and besides, she could make Harry take the puppy
out for walks and clean up after it's muddy paws.

Her fourth thought was that it was quite a shame that such a cute
puppy was saddled with such an awful name.

Her fifth thought was that she really shouldn't get too made
about anything because the puppy was cute and she knew damn well she
too would have trouble leaving the pet shop without buying it,
knowing that the rest of its litter was already gone. That one
won.

Bending down, she picked up the black puppy, who turned out to be
heavier than she thought. "If he knows his name as Bottle, I
suppose we shouldn't change it," Hermione said, ignoring how both
her husband and her children's faces lit up at her words, as though
they had been expecting her to make a big fuss about the puppy. "Do
you know what sort of dog he is?" she continued. "He looks a bit
like a Labrador. And how old is he anyways?"

"He's a Newfoundland," said Harry. "And he's about ten
weeks old."

"Oh dear," said Hermione. "You're going to be a great, big
dog someday," she told the puppy. Bottle licked her nose as though
he was agreeing with her.

"Bigger than Albert," James noted. Both of his parents'
eyebrows when up at that.

"Not that there's any sort of bet whatsoever between you and
Nick about dogs, right James?" asked Harry. James often had some
sort of obscure bet going on with Nicholas, Ginny and Blaise's son,
though for some reason, it appeared that he was often the loser of
those bets. Losing, however, was never a deterrent for him to stop
betting with Nick about things like who could hit a bludger farther.

"No. Just that I wouldn't want a small, puny dog, that's
all." James wrinkled his face. "You know the sort that she"—and
he pointed at his sister—"would get all dressed up."

"I would not!" Elizabeth stamped her foot. "You're so
stupid!"

"Not as stupid as you," James snerked.

"That's enough," said Harry. "Let's not start that
argument again."

Hermione nodded. "Especially as that wouldn't be a good
welcome for Bottle, now would it?"

"Yes, Mum," James and Eliza said together—inadvertently,
given the glares they threw at one another.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. Both she and Harry had wanted
more than one child, as they each had wanted a sibling when growing
up (Dudley obviously not counting as one for Harry). Sometimes
though, she worried that her children's sibling rivalry was going
too far. At those times, she made a point of it to speak to Ginny,
who would laugh and tell her some story about something the twins did
to Percy, just to reassure her that it could be much worse. That was
probably why Ginny only had Nick—Gin obviously had enough of
tensions amongst siblings to last her several lifetimes, growing up
at the Burrow. When Hermione had mentioned that to her, Gin had
laughed aloud and said that Nick and James were virtually brothers,
given the way they acted.

"Shall we go over to Aunt Gin's?" asked Harry. "I'm sure
she'd like to see Bottle too, and maybe we can introduce him to
Goldilocks."

"Another perfectly awful name for a dog," Hermione muttered.

"But it does suit her," Eliza reasoned with her mum.

"I cannot say anything to Gin about that now. Not that the name
was her fault, as I'm sure Gin has better sense than that:" said
Hermione. "But yes, let's go. Your aunt was asking us when we'd
next visit."

"Portkey or floo?" asked Harry.

"Portkey. Floo is always so messy," replied Hermione. "And I
wouldn't want to scare Bottle his first day her with a tandem
Apparation."

"Wait, Mum, Dad! I need to get a—"

"Leave the broom here, James," said Harry.

"Yeah, James," echoed Eliza. "If we decide to play there, we
can each borrow one from Nick." Eliza grinned at her brother,
knowing what his response would be.

"You only say that because he gives you the best one, and I wind
up with that relic that belongs in a museum. Oh wait, that's right,
Nick's house is a museum." James rolled his eyes.

"Be nice," Harry chided mildly. "It's not as if you don't
return the favor when Nick is over here and needs to borrow a broom."

"But he started it!"

As she absently listened to her family's banter while trying to
get them all into the living room so they could visit their friends,
Hermione smiled. She was happy. Very happy. This life that she was
leading now was so good. She had a wonderful husband and two lovely
children. Her job at Hogwarts, while difficult at times, really did
challenge her and also allowed her to see her children throughout the
year. And she had friends, good friends, who were also content with
their lives.

And though life wasn't perfect and there were so many things she
wished she had done differently, everything did manage to work out.
She managed to wind up in the place she was needed the most—and
that she needed the most.

THE END

Author's note: I do apologize for the long wait for this
chapter, and this is not even the ending I had planned for this
story. But it has been so long, that I couldn't quite get
started with that ending, and so this one came about instead.
This chapter was always meant to be the last one. Thank you to
everyone who has reviewed this story. Words are wholy inadequate to
describe how much those reviews kept me writing. Once again, I'm
sorry for the delay and I hope this ending will do.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.